What We Faced on October 7th was Pure Islamism

Like most Jews, the topic of Israel was infused into many aspects of my childhood. However, unlike most Jews, I encountered a very different narrative than the miraculous one we tell. I grew up in Tehran in the 1990s, where the television was filled with footage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Islamic regime made sure to invade every Iranian’s mind and implant the idea that the conflict, though a thousand miles away, was personal. They wanted to create an Ummah, a nation that is united in mission and sorrow.

This is why they injected every Iranian (no matter the age!) with images of death and destruction. Though I did not grow up Jewish and wasn’t Arab like the Palestinians, I was brainwashed to see myself in the conflict. Everything was black and white: the Islamic regime portrayed the Palestinians as poor victims and painted Israel as the aggressor.

Being fed this propaganda, the six-year-old me was inspired to enter a children’s drawing contest for the cause. I drew the Palestinians as slain rabbits and IDF soldiers as ferocious lions. This was how I interpreted the conflict. (I am happy to report that I did not win this competition. But I did win my Zionism.)

Fast forward a few years, when I began to think for myself and question the world around me, I could not connect to the Palestinian pain. Why was the regime constantly talking about them? I wondered. Why were they burning Israeli flags at prayer services? 

Living as a Muslim under Islamic rule, I never felt a connection to the Ummah. There is no unity, only conformity. Conformity to the Supreme Leader. Conformity to Islamism. Conformity to evil.

My conversion to Judaism terminated my connections to my biological family. Partly because of the abuse they inflicted on me, both physical and emotional, and partly because I do not believe it is safe for me to be close to those who wish to kill me for leaving Islam.

Losing everything and everyone you know is not easy.

Starting from nothing is difficult.

But I look at it differently. I now have a bigger family: the Jewish people. A family with whom I share not only religion and rituals, but also deep heritage and real sorrow.

I began feeling that pain on the day of October 7th, when, by the end of morning services at synagogue, it was announced that an attack had taken place. Details began to emerge as the day went on. Reservists in my community began to leave for Israel.

Then, we learned the extent of the atrocities. Everyone was in shock except me. It finally happened: everything the Islamic regime taught us, every crime they dreamed of committing, became a reality. People were shocked by the violent brutality, the animalistic relish in which Hamas raped, murdered, and kidnapped. But I am no stranger to this violence from Islamists. The Islamic regime rapes, tortures, and murders its own people. It is a core part of their ideology—especially doing so against Israel.

Recently, I visited the Nova Festival Exhibit in Washington D.C. I had refrained from watching any of the videos from 2023, but I finally saw it. I could hear Hamas members’ grotesque pride as they hunted for Jews and chanted “God is Great.” I read descriptions of what those terrorists had done. And I also met Lee Sasi, one of the survivors of the Nova Festival massacre.

Her strength moved me, and I assured her that what she witnessed during those horrifying hours inside the bomb shelter was pure Islamism. I know because I am deeply familiar with the ideology that led to October 7th. 

It’s ironic: For perhaps the first time in my life, the Islamic regime succeeded in making the Israeli-Palestinian conflict personal to me. Islamism is the greatest evil we—the entire western world—face today. Their goal of creating an Ummah is not just rhetoric. It’s not just images projected on televisions and flags burned at ceremonies. Their goal is to spread Islam by any means possible—Israel is just in the way. They see me, an apostate who turned to Judaism and Zionism, as the ultimate infidel deserving of execution. The fight against Hamas (and the greater war against Islamic Republic of Iran) is a fight against Islamism. We cannot let this ideology fester.

So how do we fight against it? The Islamic regime is scheming for worldwide Islamist conformity, their Ummah. For our survival, I propose a different approach: Not conformity but unity. I’ll admit it is not a novel idea. We have united together in the past to overcome existential threats. We have been successful before, and we can do it again now. Unlike the conformity that the Islamic regime enforces with a noose, our greatest strength in unity is our argumentative nature. 

A key part of unity is healthy argument. Debate and questioning sharpen our collective understanding. Growing up, I was not allowed to question anything about Islam and the teachings of the Supreme Leader. Had I submitted, I would have become another mindless mouthpiece of the regime. I would still be in Iran. And I definitely would not be Jewish. As the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks put it so simply and profoundly, “God loves arguing.” Let us use this to our advantage.

From this newly minted Jew who joined the Jewish people in September of 2019, I plead with every Jew of every color, flavor, and denomination: We must stick together to overcome this chapter. Our lives are at stake.

Together, we will survive as Am Yisrael Chai.